Metal Mouth Message Board

Starting to get worried... a total of 4 brackets have fallen off.
I don't know how regular braces are applied (never had them) but when I got my braces, one bracket just didn't take to the glue. They reapplied that one when i was there, then after he was done, my ortho had to check my bite so when I bit down (just on a piece of paper or something) another bracket popped off. He said not to worry about that one and he would reapply it another time. I haven't gotten my wire put in (getting teeth pulled first) so I didn't mind that he didn't want to put that bracket on. Later that day, I was eating a SOFT cinnamon bun and a bracket fell off. It was in the evening so I called the next day (July 3) and they were out of the office for the holiday. I left a message. I'm eating a sandwich at lunch today and when I'm done I realize another bracket is missing. This time I swallowed it (I guess, I don't what else could have happened). I just called my ortho and have an appt. tomorrow afternoon. They said they can order to bracket I swallowed but it's going to cost $75 and take a month to get here. This is so frustrating, I wasn't eating jolly ranchers or peanuts or chewing gum. I knew my diet would change slightly with braces, but I don't think its the food. I've read elsewhere that people are having problems with loose brackets.

Sorry to write a novel, but I have to vent my frustration.

*If anyone knows also: the bracket that I swallowed is on the top and its the last tooth all the way in the back. So is this going to affect if they can put my wire in? I plan on asking tomorrow but I was just curious. My wire appt is in two weeks and the bracket will get here in a month.

Bummer, sounds like a glue problem.

Being off the wire for a couple of weeks probably won't make much difference in the scheme of things.

melissac- what kind of linguals do you have? I have iBraces, and I've had several of the originally applied brackets come off. I think I'm up to 5 of them now in 5 months. My iBraces were installed using the new "tray" system where all the brackets go on one arch at once. This requires all of the teeth to be perfectly prepared and dry in order for the bracket to attach well. This system does not require the use of the UV light when the bracket is in place. Obviously, this system cuts down on the time of installation, but introduces a lot of possible problems with trying to get all the teeth bonded simultaneously. I've not had a single bracket that was rebonded using the traditional method come off again.

Since the brackets are custom made, they will have to send away to get you a new one. I doubt they'll be able to install the wire without the rear bracket in place. On the iBraces, the rear-most bracket is not attached with a lig, but rather it has a small channel that the wire goes into. Without that rear bracket in place, it tends to get very pokey on your tongue.
(I've had both rear lower brackets come off and it's not much fun without them in place to guard the end of that wire.)

I have ibraces too. They used that procedure on me (the whole arch at once) to apply my braces. It just sucks... I started this process in March with consultations and whatnot. Then it tooks months (literally) to get the braces in. I just have a feeling once I adjust my speech with the brackets, the wire will just eff it all up again. It's not so much me wanting the results today, but I want to get used to everything in my mouth so I can speak before school starts in August.

It's a good thing I put a huge down payment in because I'm pretty sure I would have flaked out by now.

I lost one of my back brackets within a week of them being fitted. My ortho hasn't replaced it yet but I haven't had any problems (touch wood) with the arch wire and it hasn't affected movement.

wow that sux!!!!! mine are so tightly stuck on me my ortho and the nurse have all agreed to be sick on the day mine are due to come off!!!!!

I have ibraces and I hade the same dilema early on where brackets were falling off. It was due to the wrong glue he was using. My ortho then used another glue and they all stuck. It really sucked when heaps of them would just fall off, it made things so much more difficult having to travel there with a busy scedule when it all could have been done in one hit, so it wasted some time. Even now I still have the odd one that falls out here and there, just keep positive and talk to your ortho about fixing it.

So far, in 5 months, 5 brackets have fallen off. But I did notice that the ones that fell off were always the ones that were initially applied with trays. When they are replaced manually by the ortho, they seem to stay on (touch wood). It's so annoying when it happens, because I hate that acidic taste of the glue they use to stick the bracket on. yuck!

Just for comparison, I had 5 or so brackets come loose in the first 6 months....none (or maybe one) in the last year. One or two was because I was eating things I shouldn't have been

The initial application seemed more likely to come off than the ones they re-applied.